Light Comedy, Rich Opera

It’s all very intimate at the Next Act/Renaissance Theaterworks performance space. It’s a simple stage. There are a couple of chairs. There’s a little bit of greenery. There are some white pedestals. A couple of tiny suits of armor. It’s a cozy, little romance as Brew City Opera stages its one-weekend performance of Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte. A studio theatre performance of Mozart’s classic crazy romantic comedy might normally run the risk of coming across as being a bit too casual. Typically some three hours long, the Brew City production clocks-in at a very comfortable 2 hours with intermission.. Though there IS an impressively breezy sense of momentum about the opera, the speed of the show might casually compromise the lavishly dreamlike transformation of Mozart. Thankfully, Music Director Tim Rebers, and Stage Director Edson Melendez manage to maintain a sense of historical elegance about the show that still feels quite classy. The exaggerated insanity of romance flutters across the stage with a delightful sense of action that still manages to feel quite voluminous on a small studio stage.

The plot has echoes of Shakespeare. A couple of men are challenged to prove the faithfulness of the women in their lives by masquerading as strangers--each attempting to seduce the fiancé of the other. It’s light comedy that plays well with the playfulness of Mozart from a variety of different angles on a minimalist stage with some tastefully colorful illumination by Encore Theatrical Lighting. ETL makes the visual reality of the comedy feel that much more rich without the many, many layers of scenic design and costuming that might otherwise inhabit a period comedy. The intensity of the emotions are amplified by rich blues, purples, red and pinks projected against the background which catch the color of the period costuming here and there in the gracefully impassioned rush of events.

Brennan Martinez and Tabetha Steege have a fun dynamic as the two women who are challenged in their faithfulness. Steege summons powerful tension with deep inner conflict. Martinez balances the more serious end of the drama with some gorgeously amplified physical emotional comedy. There’s a deft subtlety to Martinez’ sense of humor that serves her end of the production quite well.

Soprano Anja Pustaver is impressively sharp as the maid Despina who is drawn into the subterfuge. Pustaver is deliciously expressive with her eyes. She’s got brilliant comic instincts that occasionally take the center of the stage. (Pustaver is irresistibly funny when the maid is given the task of masquerading as a doctor. She cleverly flops about in a plague doctor mask and an oversized robe that amplifies her naturally dynamic sense of physical wit. Very funny stuff.)

It’s two hours long, but it passes by with such graceful fluidity. All too quickly the dream is over, but it lingers well int the evening as summer full assets itself on the edge of June somewhere south of Broadway in Milwaukee.

Brew City Opera’s Cosi Fan Tutte has two more performances: Saturday, June 1st at 3pm and 7pm. For more information, visit Brew City Opera online.